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This Month in History: Johnson Service Company Opens Four New Branches

The cover of the Johnson Service Company 1953 annual report.

The cover of the Johnson Service Company 1953 annual report

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Nov. 19, 1953: Growing post-war use of air conditioning created a burgeoning market

The November 19, 1953 issue of American Metal Market announced that the Johnson Service Company (Johnson Controls' former name) had opened four new branch offices across the nation: in Champaign, Illinois, to serve east central Illinois; in Lubbock, Texas, to serve northwestern Texas; in Miami, Florida, to serve southern Florida; and in Pensacola, Florida, to serve southern Alabama and northwestern Florida. In all, the company opened 14 branches that year, which brought to 80 the number of offices that sold, planned, installed, and serviced the company's automatic temperature and air conditioning control systems.

The growing post-war use of air conditioning in industry and commercial buildings created a burgeoning market for temperature controls.

The growth in branch offices in 1953 was part of a larger post-World War II trend that saw the number of company branch offices go from 36 in 1945 to 111 in 1960, and annual net sales increase from $6 million to $67 million in the same time span. Accounting for this rapid company expansion was, in part, the construction boom that took place after the war, as a large backlog of civilian projects could now be undertaken. Also, growing post-war use of air conditioning in industry and commercial buildings created a burgeoning market for temperature controls. The company was able to anticipate these trends and position itself to take full advantage of them.

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